Part 1

"Ma we have to go!" Norma shouted looking straight down the long stretched haul.

"No mija," Mrs. Lupe said. "In those places they only eat chatarras. I have to bring my own food. I´ll be ready in a minute just let me finish with my quesadillas."

"Today was not the day!" Norma grinded through tightened teeth. Sh e always had a fuss with her mother about everything but she wanted this day to be special. They were going to celebrate her 54th birthday. The ride was rather uneventful until the car pulled off the highway to where they had colorful tables and chairs lined out for the vacationers who wanted to sit and have a traditional Mexican meal.

"Y ou want something ma?" Miguel asked.

"Just a glass of H orchata mijo; the sun is about to kill me," she said sitting down in the chair Miguel had pulled out for her. Norma sat just opposite checking out the menu to see what sh e would order. She was still a l ittle uptight w ith her mom but she had problems ever since her dad died, she never really let go of the incident and took it quite hard. Miguel on the other hand was tough. He learnt to surpass the tragedy and e ven went on to getting married and now awaiting a baby with his wife Carmen. He was excited but not as much as Mrs. Lupe who was going to have her first grandchild.

"We will call him José , just like your father. It´s an inheritance we have to give him so we can all remember your father, que en paz descanse -may his soul rest in peace , " Mrs. Lupe said taking out and caressing the photo of her husband. She always carried a photo of him wherev er she went. To keep him close t o my heart she always said.

Miguel left the money on the table and they all waved goodbye to the friendly people wearing traditional Mexican clothes. T he colorful skirts and sombrero s c o uld attract anyone at full speed on the long-stretche d highway which was a very good strategy . They had chicken in Mole with so me tortillas on the side, and not to leave out the beans and totopos.

The four hour journey seemed long er than the usual since it was E aster time and e v erybody was heading to Acapulco to enjoy the beach. It almost felt li ke traveling on a turtle´s back advancing a centimeter per minute, or so it seemed.

"When will we get there?" Mrs. Lupe asked.

"Ya, almost Ma," Norma first Miguel in answering.

It was Mrs. Lupe´s first time to Acapulco. She never really traveled m uch but spent most of her time on the rancho with her loving husband wh ile Miguel and Norma went off to having their own lives in the city, Mexico City in that case. There were more job opportunities and Miguel wanted a change of heart after spending the majority of his life on the rancho and not seeing much outside of the small town. It turn in his favor because just couple months after moving there he found a decent job as a teacher and met his wife who also worked in the same school. It was love at first sight when he saw here and has not taken his eyes off her ever since.

They drove past the last toll which was awfully expensive . "This is one of the problems here in Mexico, if you w a n t to travel make sure to have the money for the C aseta - toll even if you don´t have for food cause you will never reach your destination." Miguel said grinfully.

"¿A nombre de quien esta l a reservación ? - who did the res e r vation?" the nice receptionist asked.

They check- in went smooth and the bell boys helped with the luggage to the rooms. They all had individual room but Mrs. Lup e couldn´t understand why they didn’t all just stay in the same room. "You pay that money mijo, when we could ´ve stayed in one room." Her jaws dropped as she entered her room and Miguel and Norma continued walking down the hall to find their rooms. "Si necesitas algo me dices Ma- if you need some t h ing tell me," Norma suggested signaling with pointing finger.

"We just reach a nd they leave me alone already; t hese kids these days. I don’t get them, I would never leave my mother´s side in my days." She said grumbling as she explored the room and bathroom. "Nice!"

It was her first time to Acapulco and even staying in a hotel. It was ki nd of a bitter-sweet experience because she thought she would be cuddl ing with her babies, well grown babies who think they were too old to sleep with mama but she liked the idea of finally being out of her own house.

"Ma, puedo pasar- can I pass?" Miguel asked knocking on the door. We will go down to the beach now ma, you should get ready and d o n ´ t forget the sunscr e en I bought for you ´cause the sun here is a killer.

"Mijo- my son, I didn ´ t bring a towel. You think I can take the one in the bathroom?"

"Si ma, just don ´t forget it when we return from the beach, OK. "

They all trod down to the beach. "Neceistan algo- need anything? Miguel asked poin ting to the bar at the pool as they passed. He ordered two P iñacoladas and a Horchata and asked the waitress to take it down to the beach for him as he went down to install the beach umbrel l a for shade.

"N ice view , no ma?"

"S i mija, really nice."

Mrs. Lupe sat on the beach bed watching the other families enjoying the rough w aves of the sea wishing her husb and was alive to see the beauty of Acapulco. He never really got the chance to travel; to see Lindo Mexico. It ´ s the dream of all parents that one day thei r children would give them the chance of seeing the world and traveling, you know doing thing s they didn ´ t get the opportunity to do .

Miguel and Norma turned ou t quite go od, Miguel a hig h school chemistry teacher and N orma working on her thesis to graduate as a Biological E ngineer . She still wasn ´ t sure what to investigate or e ven where to start. But you can do it mija , her mom always reassured her.

You know that is the best gift a mother has the ability to spark confidence in her children. Norma could trust in that anything her mom said w ould happen. She had the fame fo r goat-mouth as they would say. Once she told Norma that the boy L uis was no good, which turned out to be true because L u is ended up getting a girl preg nant and that was the en d of his a ffair with N orma . S he never really had anything serious with any guy for that matter. The one who came close s t to co nquering her was Juan who turned out to be married with two kids. That did for her and she has only decided on focusing on her education journey ever since

"I’ m going in," M i guel said running off to where the waves were reaching.

"M ijo, you can swim?" M rs. Lupe asked gaming with a big smile. T his was something she hadn ´ t done in a while. After her husband Don Pepe died she shook her real hard and only spent most of her time walking back and forth on the huge rancho to bring flowers for him while she spends hours talking to him and telling him how she´d see him soon.

Don P epe was a good man by nature. They called h im don P epe because he helped everybody in the community and was well-respected by them all. For every Christmas Norma and M i g uel would get trendy books but they didn ´t like it especially M iguel who after being drilled with questions for his schoolmates upon returning to school about his Christmas gifts would lie and say h e got the most trendy and popula r Lego of that time. Not even to mention N orma about her im aginary Barbie collection but M rs . L upe always told them not to lie because their father was just trying to foment their education , something which was a social problem the country was facing . Many kids didn ´t read much and this will cre ate further problems for us , he´d say.

" ¿ No entra s ma ? - you don ´t want to come in?" N orma asked shouti ng from the distance beckoning Mrs. Lupe to try the warm sea water of B ello Acapulco.

"You know I can´t swim mija. Plus I´ve never been in that much wa ter my dear,"

At first she was reluctant to enter but gave up after the families close by started saying, "ándale - go on, the wa ter is nice."

They watched the sun touch the horizon and then finally went back up to the hotel. "A day well spent no ma?" both Norma and M iguel asked.

Mrs. Lupe took a shower, dried herself and put o n her pajama. "H ow does this thing work?" she asked herself through g rinding teeth. She hated that the remote control had so many buttons she couldn ´ t understand. One last try and she finally turned the TV on. La R osa de Guadalupe, her favorite show was on. She was ready to fall back and enjoy the program, when Norma entered the room.

"¿Ma , qué haces?- what are you doing?"

" ¿Có mo?- what do you mean? I´m going to bed?" Mrs. Lupe responded.

"No, no. W e are going to the boat. We have to try out the party boat. We can ´ t come to Acapulco and not get a boat ride. Now get dress. We leave in ten minutes," she said walking off back to her room to finish up her makeup.

"No entiendo éstos chamacos en día- I don ´ t u nderstand these young people," Mrs. Lupe grumbled. "I´ m too old for boat. I´ ve seen Ti tanic and I know how this end s ."

Who wanted to object to Norma? She would make a quarrel out of everything. So M rs. Lupe got dressed and they all went down to the receptionist to call them a taxi. "You will enjoy i t ma," Miguel said trying to com fort her after seeing how terrifying she looked. "Hmmmmmm," was the only sound she murmured.

"I ordered room s ervice ma, so just get dress an d it´ll be up in a few minutes. " Mrs. Lupe had a terrible headache, one which she didn ´ t have in year s, not since they had turned big man and woman. "I´m too old for this drama."

Miguel had pl anned to take them to visit La Q uebrada which was a diving site that Acapulco was famous for. They enjoyed the lunch judging from the way N orma dug right into the fish after being served. On the rancho they didn ´ t eat fish often, think of everything from Chuleta to Cecina to c hicken but not fish. Mariscos Pacos, the name of the restaurant, was famous for the grilled Mojarras.

Mrs. Lupe ordered fish taco, bu t they all stared at here like w h o orders taco when you can enjoy a shrimp cocktail or even bett er steam conch at the beach.

" W hen we reach back to the hotel, we could go swimming in the pool and have some drinks by the bar. I could use a cold drink, what do you say N orma, a Corona?" Miguel asked pushing N orma on the shoulder.

"Yeah bro, like old time."

Miguel and N orma were like best friends growing up, when M iguel sneaked out of the rancho to go to parties with his friends he would drag p oor N orma along so she wouldn ´ t tattle on him to pa´ Don Pepe. Norma would enjoy herself but kept worried all night what wou ld happen if Don P epe went up to their rooms and they weren´t there. It wouldn ´ t be nice because he could be the best dad but als o a strict one. He would scold N orma and say that´s no behavior for a y oung woman and yo u Miguel just wait to see what I ´ll do to you . Norma knew this because once they escaped to a nearby party after schoo l and arrived late just to see Don P epe waiting on the verandah with straps in his hands. They were y oung teenagers but he didn ´ t care, he whipped them so hard Miguel couldn’t sit for two days. So Don Pepe sure didn ´ t play.

But that still didn ´ t keep them both from being rebellio us at times. No big harm since Miguel and N orma turned out quite good.

Upon arriving to the hotel, M rs. Lupe made it clear that she was tired and that they shoul d go on and enjoy the rest of the evening while she would go and take a bath and get some rest.

"I’ m too old for this hectic life!" she exclaimed one last time and vanished into her room.

The next day they would head back to El Valle but planned to pick up some souvenirs on their way back. They had to get something to remi nd them of the best family trip e ver or maybe the only family trip they´d ever had.

"S hould we have lunch here in the h otel sis, or on our way back," Miguel asked but before N orma could answer, Mrs . Lupe said, " on the way." She was desperate to get back to her rancho because she had to take care of the animals, she reminded them.

"uh-huh ma , you always worry about those animals," Norma expelled.

"W ell, mija, if it weren´t for thos e animals, you might not have had such a bright future."

Was she saying that N orma´s future was for some anim al and not her own effort? Well , the animals helped to pay the school fee now and then.

The ride back home was much more eventful than going. They all sang along to their favorite tune, Kiss an Angel Good Morning, Charlie Pride. Th e y remembered how Don Pepe would sing this lovely song to Mrs. Lupe every Sunday morning as they helped with the chores around the rancho.

Their fun -filled moment was interrupted when the car started swaying fr om left to right. "Putamadre!" Miguel yelled. " I think the tire just went flat!"

He managed to control the car and pulled over next to the high way. "This is bad luck mijo. Something is gonna go wrong," Mrs. Lupe said kissing her Virgin Guadalupe necklace.

" D on´t worry ma, we will just use the donut until we can fin d a mechanic shop on the way," M igue l said looking at the flat tire exposing the rims. " ¡ Mierda!"